Get excited: The presidential debate schedule has arrived

posted at 6:41 pm on July 25, 2012 by Erika Johnsen

Huzzah! Er, sorry… but I’m pretty excited, anyway. Goodness knows there are times when watching political debates can be about as exciting as watching paint dry, and during this last round of Republican debates during the primaries there were a few moments of in-fighting that were positively cringe-worthy; but in general, I think this stuff is pretty fun. I mean, it’s not like this so-far indiscernibly close race is going to decide the fate of the free world, or anything… shudder. Well, maybe “fun” isn’t the right word, but worthy of getting fired up about, yes.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has decreed that the candidates will meet for three separate prime-time debates in October, for ninety minutes each, with the debates being moderated by one person each, that person TBD at a later date. Here’s the sched:

The first, which will focus on domestic policy, is set for Oct. 3 at the University of Denver in Denver, Colo., the city that hosted the 2008 Democratic convention. A second meeting in a town-hall format will take place Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and the final meeting, focusing on foreign policy, will be held Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.

The vice presidential contenders – incumbent Democrat Joe Biden and the not-yet-named GOP candidate–will debate only once, on Oct. 11 at Centre College in Danville, Ky., over domestic and foreign policy.

We’ve picked our champion, dammit, and he’s ours now, come hell or high water. The economy is the issue about which voters care most, and while I generally agree with most of Romney’s free-enterprise-related messaging (my heart has never been so warm as the time he proudly declared, “Corporations are people, my friend!”), his challenge is going to be relaying that message to effectively combat President Obama’s populist, intellectually cheap rhetoric. I have full faith that it can be done, but there’s only one way to find out — Bring. It. On.

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For a suburb of NYC, Hempstead is pretty mixed. Some of the 22 villages inside it are Democrat run, some Republican. Rep Pete King (R) covers a large chunk, Rep Carolyn McCarthy covers just over half and a few other Republicans have small slices.

Hofstra is not as overtly liberal as most colleges in the area, and I hope that their College Republican group gets a fair number of tickets.

Prediction: Debate moderators who ask Romney endless questions about gay marriage, his wealth, etc. And those same moderators getting into and out of the bad economy on Obama’s watch as quickly and painlessly for the president as possible.

PLEASE, Mitt, if the media “does what it does,” ignore their inane questions designed to get Obama re-elected and simply hammer the president on one of the countless points for which he can be slammed.

Moderator: “Mr. President, why is it that after four years of a Democrat controlled Congress & Senate, two of which were directly under the guidance of your presidency, the economy is in a significantly weaker condition that when you took office three and a half years ago?”